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Saturday, January 09, 2010

Get Your Tent Ready

This article in my hometown paper, the San Jose Mercury News, reminds me I have my own line-waiting awaiting me: "Santa Clara Parents Camp Out Overnight to Enroll Kids at Elementary School." Our neighborhood school isn't this crazy - I was assured that anyone living in the catchment area will get a kindergarten slot if they show up on the first day of registration, which is later this month. But I'm not taking my chances: I'm going to get all my papers for Jada ready the week before, and then head over to the school an hour or two before the start of registration the morning of.

Even if something weird happened, we'd just have to pay for Jada to attend kindergarten somewhere else, and then re-enroll her for first grade. But it sure would be nice to get her into the neighborhood school starting in kindergarten: it's two blocks from our house, is highly regarded, and is free.

I'm reminded of how fortunate we are to be able to send our kids to a decent school so close to us for at least the first nine years of primary education (it's a K-8 school), especially as friends of mine who have committed to living in urban areas are now starting to have serious conversations about whether they want to move on account of their children's educational preferences. It's really evolved perfectly: the neighborhood has improved, the school is just one of the many amenities available to young families, and the school itself is reflective of the neighborhood's diversity and funkiness.

I can't claim to be this foresighted 10+ years ago when we bought the house. Thanks, instead, be to God.